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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (often abbreviated as "MMPR") is a live-action television and movie series, based on the Super Sentai series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, literally Dinosaur Squadron Beast Ranger and often abbreviated as Zyuranger (after the Kunrei-shiki romanization). The Super Sentai genre was already one of Japan's hottest tokusatsu properties. The show first aired on Fox Kids on August 28, 1993, and ended on February 17, 1996. On January 2, 2010 a reversion of the series with a new logo, comic book-referenced graphics, and alternative special effects began airing on ABC Kids. Although it was a children's series, it became known as one of the cultural icons representing the 1990s. The theme music, "Go Go Power Rangers," was often parodied, and many of its subsequent incarnations contain the words "Go" or "Power Rangers" in their theme music. The various Power Rangers over the years have been replaced, partly based on evolving storylines, and partly because the actors behind these characters were rumored to be holding out for greater pay. Production Before Power Rangers would become a worldwide hit during the decade of the 1990s, Haim Saban , the creator of Power Rangers and other Tokusatsu adapts that became Saban adapts (like VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs and Masked Rider) which were around the recent and frequent years of the show's rising and falling popularity status streaks, during the 1980s struggled to adapt the Super Sentai series to the United States . Super Sentai however, has been very popular in Japan for the past 35 years. Like in Sentai, it also involved around a group of 5 heroes (in some shows, fewer) with gifted and special powers (technical or magical) who are sent to battle the dark forces of evil which consists the heroes' main villains and monsters. Their henchmen (aka. "Footsoldiers"), on Sentai's part, are called "grunts", while their monsters are often called "Monster of the Week". Each one of our heroes received gigantic robots called mecha. They could be used to fight off monsters when they grew to gigantic size. The mecha could usually form together to form one superior gigantic robot. Each year our heroes would defeat their enemies and our story would be finished. The next year a new threat and a new set of heroes (with a new back story and brand new powers) would be introduced and the cycle would repeat itself. The Super Sentai show was a success in Japan. Although it seemed simplistic by design Super Sentai shows usually had some story of storyline and even had some adult situations (Sentai is a kids show but in Japan kids shows have much less content restrictions than in the US). After watching Super Sentai, Saban figured out how to produce his planned Power Rangers show by mixing Amecican footage with the Japanese Sentai stock footages to have action scenes to fit with each story of each Power Rangers episode ever produced and aired. During the time, various children's networks turned down Saban's idea for Power Rangers. This led to no success during the 1980s. Although, in the 80s, the USA Network has done an American parody dub of Kagaku Sentai Dynaman.. Sentai footage was being bought from Toei by Saban at the time. When Saban wanted to create a TV show called Power Rangers, he would use the American footage and Sentai footage to be collided together while he hired an all-American cast of actors to play these characters as the two footages varied ratios in order for Saban to make a unique TV series that appealled to mostly children (starting with later incarnations of Power Rangers, the show became much more attractive toward teens and adults, as of 2011, rather than its regular target audience). By the earlier 1990s, Saban finally found a TV network to air Power Rangers, and of that was Fox, part of it's Fox Kids network programming block. The first Super Sentai show Saban wanted to adapt for the first season of Power Rangers was 1992's Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, whose series had a Dinosaur motif and theme to its concept. Saban attempted but failed to gain the footage from Zyuranger's predecessor Choujin Sentai Jetman, also the last Super Sentai series not to be dubbed In order to create a unique cast of characters, he wanted them to be based on their Sentai Ranger equivalents. The young actors to play the original team of Power Rangers were Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott , the Red Ranger, Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart , the Pink Ranger, Walter Jones as Zack Taylor , the Black Ranger, Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan , the Yellow Ranger and David Yost as Billy Cranston , the Blue Ranger. Zyuranger involved five ancient warriors who were awakened to use their dinosaur powers to fight an evil witch. Power Ranger utilized the footage of Zyuranger but had a much different storyline. The first series, titled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, was about an evil witch, Rita Repulsa, who was freed from her prison on the moon after 10,000 years of imprisonment. An ancient wizard named Zordon recruited five "overbearing" teenagers. Rita Repulsa was taken from the Sentai footage of Zyuranger's main villain, Bandora. Dubbing was used to give the villian an American sound. The voice actress to voice Rita's Zyuranger counterpart, in this case of the dubbing, was Barbara Goodson . A pilot episode to Power Rangers was then filmed but was never aired (until 1999 when it was finally aired as "The Lost Episode"). The title of it was " Day of the Dumpster ", which is obviously the very first Power Rangers episode to begin with to start the show's trend. The Rangers' civilian forms were obviously based on teenage stereotypes. After the first official episode of Power Rangers aired on August 28, 1993, the show became a "very powerful" monster hit on TV, as it began a toyline by Bandai (who also produces the Super Sentai toys), video games, comic books and a single feature film (which was released 2 years later following Mighty Morphin's third season in 1995). Power Rangers was a huge success from the get go, easily becoming the most popular kids show on television. Toy sales grew out the roof and toy stores were easily sold out. Kids couldn't get enough of their other favorite superheroes. One move that greatly attributed to Power Rangers' fast growing popularity was the introduction of a new character. His name was Tommy Oliver and he was the evil Green Ranger sent by Rita to destroy the Rangers ( Saban Entertainment had earlier requested that Toei create a sixth ranger in Zyuranger). Tommy was played by Jason David Frank . Soon it was revealed to the Rangers that Tommy was under an evil spell. After being freed from the spell he joined the Rangers. After the 5-parter " Green With Evil ", Tommy became a popular character within Power Rangers and has stayed in that position of popularity with fans since. Kids loved Tommy so much that when the producers were forced to write him off, there was a huge backlash of letters asking that Tommy be kept on. The writers of MMPR listened to the fans of the show and decided to keep Tommy around as a guest charachter (even though his counterpart in Zyuranger, Burai, was killed off). MMPR was so popular that Saban Entertainment commissioned Toei to create new Zyuranger footage specifically for Power Rangers since they ran out of original footage from Zyuranger. Fox extended Power Rangers' first season and the new Toei footage was used to produce the additional episodes required. The extra footage has always been referred to as Zyu2 footage. Despite the first season's popularity, Saban renewed Power Rangers for a second season in Fall 1994 and by that time, ratings went through the roof, stronger with such high ratings. The first 14 or so episodes of season 2 detained Zyu2 footage while Saban began buying only action footage and monster costumes from the following Sentai series Gosei Sentai Dairanger. When Saban began production on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' 2nd year, he didn't want the main Dairanger costumes as upgrades of the Power Rangers' main morphed forms, instead they only wanted the zords from Dairanger and Tommy's White Ranger costume, based on the Kiba Ranger from that series. Season 2 also introduced the series' first ever all-American made Power Ranger villain, Lord Zedd . After his introduction to the show in the season 2 3-part opener " The Mutiny ", Zedd became a fast growing and popular villain toward fans since his inception on Power Rangers. Saban didn't want the costume of Dairanger's main villain for Lord Zedd (though the costume was used for Master Org in Power Rangers: Wild Force , which was 9 years later). Most of the footage in Power Rangers' 2nd season was 100% American-produced and 50% Sentai produced. The two-parter " White Light " sought the return of Tommy Oliver, this time as the White Ranger. Since his return, fans enjoyed seeing him as this new Power Ranger though the Green Ranger powers (which were originally created by Rita) were no longer more. After Tommy's return to Power Rangers, the show introduced 3 rookie teens that later became Power Rangers- Rocky DeSantos ( Steve Cardenas ), Adam Park ( Johnny Yong Bosch ) and Aisha Campbell ( Karan Ashley ). They took the places of 3 of the 5 original Power Rangers that were commissioned (according to the writers of the show) to the Angel Grove Peace Conference- Jason, Zack, and Trini (though, Synopsis Long ago, the ancient wizard Zordon did battle with the evil witch Rita Repulsa. After long years of battle, he managed to defeat her in a game by using five magic coins. As punishment for her loss, she was sealed in a canister on Planet Nemesis, a planet that travels close to Earth every 10,000 years. However, before being sealed away, Rita trapped Zordon in a time warp, preventing him from participating in further battle against her. Millennia later, Rita and her minions escaped their prison thanks to two unaware astronauts, and set out to conquer Earth. Zordon, desperate to stop her, had his assistant Alpha 5 recruit five "teenagers with attitude" to do battle with her. They were granted the powers of the dinosaurs, and became Power Rangers. After several battles, Rita created an evil Power Ranger using a magic coin that she stole from Zordon which was infused with the power of the Dragon. This Green Ranger caused major damage to her foes, until he was freed from her control by the other Rangers. Grateful, and now burdened with responsibility, he joined the Power Rangers. Following several more defeats, Rita's fortress was invaded by Lord Zedd. Disgusted with her failure, he took over and sealed her away again, launching his own campaign against the Power Rangers. Despite his defeat of the Green Ranger, he was unable to beat the Rangers' new powers of the mythical beasts (their new Thunder powers). Things were complicated by the creation of the White Ranger, and the return of Rita, who gave Zedd a love potion. It was later discovered, after Zedd took an antidote, that he loved her anyway. Rito Revolto later came to Earth and managed to destroy the Rangers' previous powers. Undaunted, they sought the aid of Ninjor, creator of the powers, who gave them the new Ninja powers. After several more battles, Zedd and Rita were joined by Rita's father, Master Vile. Following his failed attempts to defeat the Rangers, he turned back time, Turning the Rangers into Powerless Children and eliminating the threat of Ninjor. These events culminated in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, leading up to Power Rangers: Zeo. Characters Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers Allies * Zordon * Alpha 5 * Ninjor * Masked Rider Civilians * Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier * Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch * Ernie * Lt. Stone * Ms. Appleby * Mr. Caplan * Angela * Richie * Curtis Villains * Rita Repulsa * Lord Zedd * Master Vile * Goldar * Scorpina * Rito Revolto * Squatt * Baboo * Finster * Lokar Monsters * List of Mighty Morphin 1 Monsters * List of Mighty Morphin 2 Monsters * List of Mighty Morphin 3 Monsters Arsenal Main Articles: Arsenal (MMPR), Arsenal (MMPR2), and Arsenal (MMPR3). * Power Morphers: Morphers used by Power Rangers, powered by magic coins. * Dragon Dagger: Weapon of Green Dino/Dragon Ranger, used to summon and control Dragonzord. * Blade Blaster: Standardized Ranger weapon, can be used as blaster or short sword. * Saba: 'Talking sword of the White Tiger Ranger, used to summon/control White Tigerzord. Also has the ability to fly and fire laser blasts from his eyes. * 'Shark Cycles: Shark-themed motorcycles used for rough terrain. * Metallic Armor: Special armor created for battling the new-and-improved Tenga Warriors. Enhances the Rangers' speed, strength & resistance to injury or magic spells * Power Cannon: Giant bazooka that fires loadable spheres of energy. * Power Weapons: Assortment of weapons individualized by each Ranger, can combine into the Power Blaster for powerful attacks. Jason (later Rocky) had the Power Sword, Trini (later Aisha) had the Power Daggers, Billy had the Power Lance, Kimberly had the Power Bow, and Zack (later Adam) had the Power Axe. * Sword of Power * Sword of Light: 'A sword that acts as a transfer conduit for the powers. * 'Sword of Darkness: A weapon temporarily wielded by the Green Ranger. * Power Coins: Owned by all six Power Rangers which when inserted into their Power Morphers, gives each teen the ability to drawn on dinosaur (and later Ninja animals) spirits to morph into Power Rangers. Zords Season One * Dinozords ** Tyrannosaurus Dinozord '(Jason/Red) ** 'Mastodon Dinozord (Zack/Black) ** Triceratops Dinozord '(Billy/Blue) ** 'Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozord (Trini/Yellow) ** Pterodactyl Dinozord (Kimberly/Pink) * Dino Megazord '(combination of Dinozords) * 'Dragonzord (Tommy/Green) * Dragonzord Battle Mode '(combination of Dragonzord, Mastodon, Triceratops and Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozords) * 'Mega Dragonzord (combination of Dino Megazord & Dragonzord) * Titanus the Carrierzord * Dino Ultrazord (combination of Mega Dragonzord & Titanus) Season Two * Thunderzords ** Red Dragon Thunderzord (Jason/Rocky)(Red) ** Lion Thunderzord (Zack/Adam)(Black) ** Unicorn Thunderzord (Billy/Blue) ** Griffin Thunderzord (Trini/Aisha)(Yellow) ** Firebird Thunderzord (Kimberly/Pink) * Thunder Megazord (combination of Thunderzords) * White Tigerzord '(Tommy/White) * Mega Tigerzord (combination of 4 Thunderzords & White Tigerzord) * 'Tor the Shuttlezord/Carrier Zord * Thunder Ultrazord (combination of Thunderzords, White Tigerzord & Tor) Season Three * Ninjazords ** Falconzord (Tommy/White) ** Ape Ninjazord (Rocky/Red) ** Frog Ninjazord (Adam/Black) ** Wolf Ninjazord (Billy/Blue) ** Bear Ninjazord (Aisha/Yellow) ** Crane Ninjazord (Kimberly/Kat) (Pink) * Ninja Megazord/Ninja Megafalconzord (combination of Ninjazords, with or without Falconzord) * Ninja Ultrazord (combination of Ninja Megafalconzord & Titanus) * Shogunzords ** White Shogunzord (Tommy/Kimberly) then (Tommy/Kat) (White/Pink) ** Red Shogunzord '(Rocky/Red) ** 'Black Shogunzord (Adam/Black) ** Blue Shogunzord (Billy/Blue) ** Yellow Shogunzord (Aisha/Yellow) ** Shogun Megazord '(combination of Shogunzords) ** Shogun Megafalconzord (combination of Shogun Megazord & Falconzord) ** 'Shogun Ultrazord (combination of Shogun Megafalconzord & Titanus) ** Battle Borgs Episode Guide Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers (Mini Series) Trivia * There are a total of seven rangers (by color) with only a maximum of six appearing at one time. However, the 3-parter Return of the Green Ranger allows there to be seven ranger colors in one show, although they don't all appear onscreen at the same time. * The Ranger's Power Weapons, Power Axe, Power Bow, Power Lance, Power Daggers, and Power Sword were only used in Season 1 of the show. However, in Season 2's Goldar's Vice-Versa, Billy used his Power Lance, in Season 2's "Scavenger Hunt", the Rangers used the Power Blaster, and in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Adam returned in "Once A Ranger" and used his Power Axe. * Due to the unforeseen popularity of the series,' Saban Entertainment,' the company that produced Power Rangers, was faced with the possibility of exhausting all of its Zyuranger footage with no more to fall back upon in order to continue producing the show. The company contacted Toei (the company which produced/produces the''' Sentai' series in Japan) as well as Rainbow Productions (the company that designed and produced the monster suits), requesting another half-season's worth of ''Zyuranger footage...specifically for Power Rangers. The two Japanese companies agreed, creating around 25 brand-new monsters and filming both human- and zord-sized battle footage for each, as well as incorporating elements from MMPR into the footage (a relationship between the Green and Pink Ranger and the Blue Ranger as the brains of the group being the most obvious examples). These monsters are collectively known in the Power Rangers fan community as "Zyu2," a term coined by Power Rangers fan Chris Funaro. Around this time, Saban was also negotiating a deal with Toei to acquire footage from Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the sentai series which followed Zyuranger. Saban used more than half of the Zyu2 costumes in the remainder of Season One of Power Rangers. When they decided to replace the Dinozords with the mecha from Dairanger in Season Two (termed Thunderzords in Power Rangers), the Zord footage of the remaining Zyu2 monsters became obsolete. To compensate for this, Saban attempted to splice the Zyu2 and Dairanger footage to ensure that the Zyu2 monsters were not seen fighting with the old Megazord that was not supposed to be there. In other words, it would show only the monster attacking followed by a shot of just the Thunderzords taking the damage. This did not always work, for occasionally the monster could actually be seen making physical contact with the old Megazord. * "Bones", was the name of the first monster to ever battle the Power Rangers in the inception of the series. Although in the lost episode (the original Pilot), they battled "King Sphinx", and Sphinx appeared again in the episode titled, "A Pressing Engagement." * Billy Cranson (David Yost) wears blue plaid boxer shorts. In the episode "Power Ranger Punks," Billy (David Yost) and Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) become punks after drinking Rita's potion. Viewers can see the top of Billy's boxer shorts in his punk outfit, which is a blue plaid pattern. However, after the spell is removed by Alpha and Zordon, Billy immediately notices this and hides the top of his boxer shorts from sight. * Lord Zedd is the first American-made villain that is only part of Power Rangers and not the Sentai Series. Others villans that would follow this are Divatox, Astronema, Scorpius, and Trakeena. But after Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue ended, each of the following series used a U.S.-original villain as the main villain and occasionally one of the other villains as well (Master Org of Power Rangers: Wild Force is an exception since the costume came from Dairanger, even though he did not exist in Gaoranger, the sentai that Power Rangers Wild Force was based upon). * The suits of several monsters were modified in some fashion in order to create new monsters for American footage. Such monsters were. ** Pudgy Pig was disassembled, and parts were used for Turkey Jerk 'in Season Two's "Storybook Rangers." ** 'Mr. Ticklesneezer was repainted and clad in a Santa Claus-like suit, becoming Grumble the Elf 'in Season Two's "Storybook Rangers." ** 'Snizard 'was repainted and modified with a cobra hood to become the 'Cobra Monster in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue's "The Cobra Strikes." ** Chunky Chicken was also disassembled for use in Turkey Jerk. ** Grumble Bee 'was repainted and given buck teeth to become 'Waspicable in Power Rangers: In Space's "The Wasp with a Heart." Waspicable also appeared in Lost Galaxy 's 21st episode ("Heir of the Throne"). ** Primator was repainted and given extra fur, and became the Snow Monster in Season Two's "Storybook Rangers." ** Salaguana was disassembled into the reptillian parts of Triter from Power Rangers: Zeo's "King for a Day." ** Silver Horns was repainted and a tongue was added, becoming Repellator in Season Three's "A Friend in Need." ** Merrick the Barbaric's head was removed, and his body was used for Incisorator in the Season Three episode "Changing of the Zords, Part II." Ironically, Incisorator's episode aired before Merrick's. * The expression "Morphinomenal!" was coined by Kimberly Ann Hart * Similarly, "It's Morphin Time!" was first spoken by Zordon. in the episode " High Five " . * The expression "Back To Action" was coined by Jason Lee Scott * The Ninja and Shogun Ultrazords are the only Zord formations in Power Rangers history that are made from American footage. No suits or props were used in making them; the Bandai 'toys of each Zord were used to bring them to life on the show. The American versions of the toys were used for this, which presented some problems as the American versions are often noticeably different than the Japanese versions (and thus, the actual Zords on the show). For example, the left arm of the Japanese Shogun Megazord toy (and the real Shogun Megazord) is white. For some reason, the left arm of the Shogun Megazord toy was repainted pink for the American version. Thus, the arm would suddenly switch colors whenever the Shogun Ultrazord was formed. * According to the "Reality Check" PSA of 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost, and both their respective characters are accomplished martial artists and gymnasts. * Six video games based on this show were produced, one for Sega Genesis, one for Sega CD, one for Sega Game Gear, two for Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Fighting Edition), and one for Game Boy. * Billy, the original Blue Ranger, has the distinction of being the only Ranger to hold the same position for the longest time (3 years, 1993-1996) without ever switching colors, a record yet to be surpassed. Similarly, he is the only original Power Ranger to appear in every episode of [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers']] and remain there from the start to the end of the MMPR generation. * Being the original series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers also the most favorite of all Power Rangers fans, winning a viewer contest conducted by ABC Family in 2004, receiving the most votes. * The original series has the distinction of being the longest-running incarnation lasting for three years (1993-1996), with the longest running single main continuity, lasting til Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo, and Power Rangers In Space. * Aaron Waters composed and wrote the original Power Rangers theme song, a full length, 4 minute long track used for promotion. It's title is "Go Go Power Rangers". The theme 'go' would appear in almost all subsequent Power Ranger songs. * As is commonly known now, despite the Yellow Ranger being a female within Power Rangers, in "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger" the Yellow (or Tiger) Ranger , named Boi/Boy, was male. Due to this there is an obvious change in the physique of the Yellow team member when the show cuts to Sentai footage. (This is most notable within Season 1) This issue was resolted as huge fan controversy throughout the show's reaction. This issue was involved for Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers: Time Force, and Power Rangers: Wild Force , whose shows had female rangers in yellow for each show (like Maya and Kelsey Winslow for examples) have the women' ranger in the american footage have breasts shown but in their respective sentai footages, the gender was resolted to male. * The order in which the Ninja Zords and Shogun Zords were aquired was reversed in Power Rangers. In the original source of those two Zord sets, "Ninja Sentai Kakuranger", the 'Shogun Zords' were gained before the 'Ninja Zords'. In the same way, since there were only five Rangers in Kakuranger, the Falcon Zord was a separate entity not belonging to anyone of them. Ninjaman/Ninjor didn't need a 'Zord' since he could grow Zord-size. * In the original Gosei Sentai Dairangers (which MMPR season 2 is based on) Tommy's white ranger counterpart Kou Hoshinsei is actually a child, which is why Tommy appears shorter in his first fight as the White Ranger. * Mondo the Magician, a metal-faced humanoid the Rangers defeated rather quickly in Season 2's "Storybook Rangers: Part 2," was actually the main villain from Gosei Sentai Dairanger * This was the first show to have new Rangers replace old rangers followed by Zeo, Turbo, Lost Galaxy and S.P.D.. * The assignment of the Black and Yellow Rangers to an African-American and an Asian (Zack Taylor and Trini Kwan, respectively) has long been a sticking point for the first season. At a panel at Power Morphicon in 2007, one of the original creators stated that they honestly did not realize what they had done in casting until roughly ten episodes in. Interestingly, their replacements reverse this: Asian-American Adam Park becomes the Black Ranger, while African-American Aisha Campbell becomes the Yellow Ranger. See also *'Mighty Morphin 1', the first season. *'Mighty Morphin 2', the second season. *'Mighty Morphin 3', the third season. *'Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers', a miniseries concluding the third season. References *'Power Rangers | Teams | Mighty Morphin' de:Mighty Morphin fr:Mighty Morphin Category:Season